Your Commander-in-Chief – Chapter 131

“Hyatt!”

Crack!

I swing the Dragon Slayer Sword – Black Flame and pierce the massive Imugi’s head.

That powerful strike wiped out all of its remaining health.

Boom-!

The moment the gigantic Imugi collapses, I let out a long sigh.

I was really glad that the monsters in the 85 Dungeon were classified as Dragons.

The [Dragon Slayer Sword – Black Flame] in my hand felt heavy.

“Wow!”

“Wow… you really caught it.”

“It was tough even for a party…”

“Looks like World Items are really something else.”

After the battle was over, the latecomers of the party exclaimed in admiration.

I extended my hand to them and said,

“Gimme!”

“Oh, uh, sure.”

“We have to give it to you.”

200 gold each.

Just like that, I was able to collect 800 gold from the four of them.

I was playing the role of the bus driver for the 85 Dungeon to repay the gold I borrowed from Helena.

The passengers receiving the gold dashed to loot items from the fallen Imugi.

As I watched them, I slumped at the entrance of the boss room.

Since obtaining the Dragon Slayer Sword – Black Flame, I could solo the 85-level dungeon, albeit barely.

Every battle felt like a war. The sharp sensation of burning out of control lingered for so long that my head felt like it would burst.

“Good job!”

“I’m heading out.”

The passengers who gathered their items left the party.

Left alone, I stared blankly at the corpse of the Imugi.

The gold I borrowed to buy the sword was 195,000 gold.

I logged onto the trading site to check the current gold prices.

Rumors began circulating about global server integration, and the price of gold was slowly rising.

The most recent trading price for gold was recorded at 550 won per gold.

Meaning I owed Helena more than 100 million won.

A wave of late regret washed over me.

As if to represent the blackening turmoil within me, the breaths flowing from my mouth dissipated like black smoke.

What on earth was I thinking to borrow such a huge sum?

I sighed again, recalling Helena’s bright smile.

Grabbing my head, I thought it wasn’t such an unmanageable amount to repay.

I could accumulate gold through weekly raid gold pots and sell various alchemy materials obtained from weekly quests.

It was tough to find guests, but if I also took on the occasional role of a level 85 bus driver, I thought I could manage to gather gold by the end of this season.

Of course, that was under the condition that I also did field farming whenever I had the chance.

There wouldn’t be much time to sleep. I’d have to cut down on my eating time.

I’d have to forgo study time and play time as well.

Beyond sleeping, it was clear I had to devote every moment to the game.

I couldn’t just sit here like this.

I jumped up from my spot and dashed out of the dungeon.

The bus driver for the 85-level dungeon earned good money for time spent, but finding passengers was quite the challenge.

Because of that, whenever I had free time, I had to go out to farm for other things.

But.

Helena – [Yeo, what are you doing?]

Helena was the problem. After lending me gold, her time online suddenly increased.

With her increased online time, she naturally looked for her friend…which was me. A lot.

It was the question of a treasured friend. Plus, with the burden of having borrowed gold, my heart felt heavy.

I couldn’t ignore her.

Yeo – [Uh-huh. I’m about to start farming in the field.]

Helena – [I see… I guess you don’t have time…]

To be honest, I didn’t have time. Even right now, I needed to gather every bit of gold possible to quickly escape from this mountain of debt.

But Helena held my debt in her hands.

I couldn’t go against her.

Yeo – [No! I have plenty of time right now!]

Helena – [Really? Then I’ll use the summon order. You can come right away, right?]

Yeo – [Yeah!]

With my answer, a message popped up asking if I would respond to Helena’s summon.

I let out a small sigh and accepted the summon.

With a huge beam of light, my body started to fly.

I arrived at the base of a massive waterfall.

The sheer cliffs, the waterfall cascading down below, and the trees growing in between the cliffs created an incredibly beautiful landscape.

Swoosh—

“I’ve been waiting.”

My mind, which had been swept away by the waterfall, came back.

I moved my dry gaze to Helena.

Dressed in a red robe, she, as always, looked at me and displayed a bright smile.

Her faces in reality and in the game were different, but that smile remained the same.

I awkwardly waved at Helena, forcing a smile.

“Isn’t it just amazing here?”

Helena said that with her body turned toward the waterfall.

I thought while watching her back. I didn’t have time to enjoy such a scene right now.

Time was still flowing even in this moment. A terrible sense of urgency made cold sweat run down my back.

“Yeo?”

“Ah, yeah. It’s really amazing!”

I answered a beat too late to Helena’s question.

“Right? Now, let’s go deeper inside.”

Helena said that and extended her hand to me.

Just like when she lent me gold, she held out her hand.

Though the cause of my debt was within me, the moment I held her hand, I became indebted.

For some reason, it felt like it would be the same now, so I couldn’t bring myself to take that hand.

“Come here.”

But Helena, unlike before, approached and took my hand first.

As if claiming ownership over me.

Helena took me deeper into the waterfall.

We both boarded the Windwalker and climbed up a high rock mountain, and even slid down the falling waterfall like it was an amusement ride.

It was a play impossible in reality but possible in Deron.

Time flows. Even while I was here, someone must have harvested the expensive herbs blooming in the field.

30 gold each. They were rare since their regeneration time was long…

“Yeo! Come here!”

“Ah, okay!”

I shook my head and ran toward Helena.

This was a moment to enjoy with a friend. Thinking of anything else would be rude.

Two hours.

That was the time spent with Helena at the waterfall.

“I had a great time today!”

“Are we leaving?”

“Yeah, I have to stop here for today. My next schedule is piling up.”

Even as she logged off from the game, Helena directed a regretful gaze toward me.

“Take care. See you at school tomorrow!”

I waved at Helena, who dispersed with the light.

The moment Helena logged off, I immediately turned around and summoned my chick.

“Come out!”

“Peep!”

The huge-winged chick seemed to understand my urgency and quickly took to the sky.

“Faster! Faster!”

I needed gold.

A lot of it.

*

I farmed gold all day and emerged from the capsule.

It was 6:30 AM. Time to get ready for school.

Rubbing my tired eyes, I stepped out of my room.

Dragging my weary body to the bathroom, I felt like I could fall asleep any moment, but I didn’t collapse.

I had to endure with superhuman willpower.

After finishing my shower and drying my hair, I headed to the living room for breakfast.

The breakfast laid out on the table was already massacred by Harang.

“You…”

Harang, who was face-down in his food, looked at me in shock.

It seemed he noticed my reddened eyes.

I rubbed my eyes and replied.

“Uh. Hi.”

It was none of his business anyway.

Weakly maneuvering the chopsticks in my hand, I shoved food into my mouth.

To be honest, I didn’t even know what I was eating. I couldn’t taste anything.

That was enough.

I stood up from my seat and said.

“I’m heading out.”

“Not… not eating more?”

“Gaining weight.”

Dragging my tired body, I set out for school.

It wasn’t far from home to school, so I quickly arrived at the school entrance.

I showed up just in time. Even though I was half-asleep while walking, I didn’t get lost.

I was really something.

As I climbed the stairs to the classroom with a staggering body, Sohee, who was always the first to arrive, welcomed me.

“Hayun.”

“Ah, Sohee.”

“Did you play late into the night?”

I nodded in response to Sohee’s question as I set down my bag.

To earn the lacking gold, I had to reduce my sleeping time.

“Are you tired?”

“Yeah…”

“How about going to the health room?”

I had been waiting for that suggestion. Though the idea of sleeping at school was absurd, I had no other choice.

It was a good thing Sohee had the key to the health room.

Sohee firmly grasped my hand and led me to the health room.

Walking behind Sohee, I stared blankly at her hair.

The way it swayed gently felt like a fox’s tail.

Upon arriving in front of the health room, Sohee pulled the key from her pocket and opened the door.

I thought to myself. Where on earth could the nurse be?

According to the school staff list, the nurse definitely existed.

Yet, nobody attending this school had ever seen the nurse. It was truly a mysterious affair.

“Alright, come in.”

“Oh…”

The moment I stepped into the health room with Sohee, my gaze flew to one spot and got stuck.

It was a bed. A huge bed that didn’t belong in an ordinary health room but looked incredibly luxurious.

The comforter and pillow neatly folded on it also looked expensive.

I stood there, staring blankly at Sohee’s back.

She started preparing a place for me to lie down, unfolding the comforter and adjusting the pillow.

With everything ready, Sohee looked at me and patted the bed as if to say ‘lie down.’

The soft comforter was tempting me. It felt like it was reaching out to me, urging me to lie down right away.

“Am… am I lying down?”

“Yeah, get comfortable.”

I cautiously slipped off my indoor slippers and crawled carefully onto the bed.

The soft texture of the comforter began relaxing my body.

“Ugh…”

I didn’t even make it onto the pillow.

I sprawled out in the middle of the bed.

That was how tired I was.

“Feels good?”

“Feels good…”

“Can you sleep well?”

“Uh-huh…”

I buried my face into the comforter in response to Sohee’s question.

My words trailed off unevenly, mumbling in the haze.

“I’ll lock the door, so text me when you wake up?”

“Uh-huh…”

With those words, Sohee stood up and left the health room.

Left alone, I moved my legs, adorned in white stockings, and felt the soft texture of the comforter just before drifting off to sleep.